The wedding industry has some strange practices, and this is most clear to the consumer when they visit a bridal salon. In this video we talk about some of those practices so you can make savvy choices while shopping for your wedding gown.
The following article is an example of the content we have in our online wedding planning membership site HappyWeddings.ca under the heading of Wedding Gown. To learn more and get useful wedding planning tools for FREE click here!
There are over 200 wedding designers whose product is sold in North America alone. Bridal salons, depending upon their size, will carry around a dozen lines of wedding gowns. There are some designer lines that only sell to bridal salons, but there is nothing stopping the bridal salons from selling those same dresses on-line. Other designers will sell their designs to only certain ‘exclusive’ bridal salons.
Not all bridal salons operate the same way, so we will point out some factors for you to be aware of. First, watch out for bridal salons that take the tags out of the dresses so you can’t figure out what designer and manufacturer you are interested in. Why? They don’t want you to price shop—you can figure out why—they are expensive. Or maybe they don’t want you to know that the dress is made out of polyester—not a bad thing with all the great new fabrics that are available, but then they can’t pretend it is silk and charge you more. And the tags tell you where was the dress manufactured—Asia, USA, Canada or elsewhere—because where it is manufactured tells you something about the quality of how the dress was made.
If your bridal salon is putting on emotional pressure—look out! Expressions of how perfect the most expensive dress is on you, and you better order it NOW because it might be gone and then what will you do, is flat out dumb. Unless you have chosen a one-of-a-kind designer dress, the manufacturer has hundreds of the exact same dress available all over the country.
Watch out for extra charges! Can you imagine any store charging you shipping and handling for bringing the product into their store? Well some bridal salons try to do that, but it is only a game to get more money out of you. Some bridal salons charge you more if you pay for your gown with a credit card (which is wrong), but as we talked about in the Legal Stuff Module, never pay cash for wedding purchases. There can be many odd fees added to your gown purchase, so read the fine print of your contract before you sign it.
If you purchase your dress somewhere else, and go to a bridal salon for alterations, some of them charge outrageous fees to do the alterations. Phone around ahead of time to compare what different places charge—or just call a reputable tailor to see what they would charge.
Then, there are the bridal salons that charge you if you cancel your appointment to try on dresses, or they charge you an hourly rate to try on dresses in their store. Ridiculous! Walk away from those places.
You will be ordering your dress ahead of time, and once it arrives, take possession of your dress. Do not store it at the bridal salon. They may charge you a fee for storage, and what happens if the salon suddenly goes out of business? Your dress is gone. If you paid with your credit card, you are covered. If you paid cash, you aren’t.
Overall, most bridal salons are honest, but there are always some who try to get away with whatever you let them get away with. If a bridal salon gives you a contract, read it all carefully—that is where all the extra charges will be listed, and special rules exist. Read it all, or take it home and read it, coming back the next day to purchase the dress. Be aware. Be savvy. Be a SmartBride.
In the resource section, you will find a document listing all the major wedding designers with links to their websites so you can see which dress designs interest you the most.